
Senior Content Strategist at Large
Greater New York City Area

Senior Content Strategist at Large
Greater New York City Area
Here's a précis of my hybrid career.
I'm an independent consultant and subject matter expert in the field of interactive content and editorial strategy, with 10 years' experience across numerous client engagements. (My deeper background is communications and management consulting.) I specialize in working with media properties from a product development perspective, devising strategic editorial objectives for their interactive platforms while liaising closely with client management and staff. I also work by contract with leading interactive design agencies.
Additionally, I'm a freelance journalist specializing in culture, science and technology reporting, with a focus on "ideas" journalism. My writing appears online and in print for publications such as The New York Times, Wired, Slate, Elle, NY Observer, Boston Globe and San Francisco Chronicle. I have related experience in television and radio, and was a producer at an award-winning multi-platform (TV/web) show considered a precursor of YouTube and model for Al Gore's Current TV.
I live in New York City with my fetching wife.
* interactive content strategy
* editorial strategy & product development
* organizational change management & business process redesign
* communications & project management
(Publishing industry)
September 2008 — Present (1 year 3 months)
Principal and founder of a content and editorial strategy consultancy for digital publishers. Predicate's team of independent specialists works directly with clients and through contract partnerships with leading design agencies. Visit our industry trends blog, Notes on Content.
(Self-Employed; Writing and Editing industry)
January 2000 — Present (9 years 11 months)
Freelance journalist specializing in culture, science and technology reporting, with a focus on "ideas" journalism.
My work appears frequently for leading publishers such as The Economist Group (Intelligent Life), The New York Times Company (NYT, Boston Globe), Conde Nast (Wired, Wired News), Hearst (San Francisco Chronicle), Washington Post Newsweek Interactive (Slate), Hachette Filipacchi HFMUS (Elle), Reed Elsevier (Variety), Guardian News and Media Limited (ContentNext's PaidContent), Observer Media Group (New York Observer), Salon.com, MIT (MIT Technology Review), Metropolis (Metropolis), F&W Publications (Print), Institutional Investor, Azure, Torstar (Toronto Star), CTVglobemedia (Globe & Mail), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Lycos, Canwest Global (National Post, Vancouver Sun, The Province), and Transcontinental Media (Vancouver Magazine, Elle Canada).
(Privately Held; Internet industry)
March 2009 — May 2009 (3 months)
What's the role of a top 10 news site in the age of the realtime web? We joined HUGE on an innovative rethink that will draw the news consumer closer to the august news giant's 3,000 reporters. We provided curation strategy and taxonomy development.
(Privately Held; Internet industry)
October 2008 — April 2009 (7 months)
Recruited to provide editorial and content strategy for a major international broadcast network's digital content offering—which is repositioning for a wider subject matter audience online—through a powerful new editorial model.
* Editorial strategy
* Licensing framework
* Migration strategy
* Workflow + capacity building
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; MSFT; Marketing and Advertising industry)
June 2008 — September 2008 (4 months)
Recruited to guide content strategy on another AARF client commitment, this time for Merrill Lynch, a leading financial services firm. Developed a content and messaging strategy for ml.com that emphasizes an editorial product development framework for aligning the outputs of the organization's different units (and varied subsidiary, but destination, web properties), managing all within the brand umbrella of the parent ml.com site. The deliverable outlines content assets and approach; schematic and process/decision illustrations of content flow; and how to begin thinking about the venue of content production not as only a website--but as an editorial platform itself.
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; MSFT; Marketing and Advertising industry)
January 2008 — April 2008 (4 months)
Team lead of the integrated client-consultant content group for Condé Nast's Women's Wear Daily (WWD.com), as part of its major web redesign and re-platforming:
*Led delivery of their editorial strategy, including specific approaches to blogging, video, audio, newsletters, syndication, events, image assets, mobile, editorial programming, cross-promotion, user-generated content, print extensions, and free/paid recommendations;
*Managed editorial planning of content migration;
*Established metadata guidelines and adapted for SEO recommendations;
*Coordinated production of style guide and various content deliverables;
*Advised on web editorial best practices; and
*Responsible for ongoing issue management.
Deployed as a contract Senior Content Strategist for Avenue A | Razorfish. Senior client- and agency-side references available. Click my referrals here for a taste.
(Publishing industry)
2008 — 2008 (less than a year)
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Public Relations and Communications industry)
2000 — December 2007 (7 years )
Direct client communications strategy (stakeholder management, document management, strategic planning) as the senior communications resource, and occasional project lead, for a boutique project management consulting agency located in Vancouver, Canada, including significant public sector assignments ($40-100M) in higher education, cultural institutions and healthcare sectors across Canada. Enagements have ranged from strategic communications campaigns to project managing IT implementations. Please visit www.ambit-consulting.com for more information.
(Public Company; 201-500 employees; Online Media industry)
November 2006 — July 2007 (9 months)
Recruited to guide client content strategy on multiple projects, including the web renewals of a leading US new media property and a popular multinational consumer brand. Representing Fortune 500 brands such as Starbucks, Nike, BMW, Nintendo and Universal Studios, Blast Radius is the interactive agency of record in Canada.
My first project was to guide content strategy for Yahoo! Research.
(Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Writing and Editing industry)
August 2002 — May 2003 (10 months)
Producer and occasional co-host for ZeD TV, an internationally broadcast, EMMY- and WEBBY-winning dual-platform (web/TV) program on independent arts and culture. According to Wikipedia, ZeD is considered a precursor to YouTube and model for Al Gore's Current TV. Responsible for managing an online community of over 40,000 contributors, defining web editorial strategy and 100% of online content writing, being an on-air personality, sourcing content from the web, managing artist contracts and some writing for scripts. 2002-03 season. Please visit www.cbc.ca and www.cbc.ca/zed for more information.